A FEW weeks ago, Wangari Muta Maathai, the Kenyan Nobel laureate, passed on at the age of 71. She bowed to the pangs of ovarian cancer and her death shocked many people around the world despite the terminal nature of her ailments. This fact was essentially due to the colossal legacy she left behind for Kenyans and the world at large. Maathai was born on April 1, 1940 in the central highlands of Kenyan. She was the first woman in both east and central Africa to earn a doctorate in veterinary anatomy and was subsequently appointed a professor in the field.Maathai was an extra'ordinary woman who founded the Green Belt Movement in 1977 to plant trees to save the environment and the social condition of the rural poor, especially women. The movement soon found out the connection between environmental degradation and governance output, and therefore widened its remit to embrace campaign for socio-economic and political change in Kenya. This dimension of her struggle expectedly set her on confrontation with a repressive post-colonial African state presided over by Daniel Arap Moi. Over three decades, she mobilized Kenyan women to plant 30 million trees. Also, her movement assisted about 900,000 women to establish tree nurseries and plant trees to reverse the effects of deforestation.She once remarked that the environment could not be protected unless the people were empowered and educated. It is to her credit that Uhuru Park was spared of government intrusion. Indeed, her feat was later to inspire the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Billion Tree Campaign in 2006, and that effort has since resulted in the planting of over 11 billion trees world-wide.In recognition of her struggle for a safer environment and better living condition for the poor, Maathai was honoured with a Nobel Peace Prize in 2004'first African woman to be so honoured. As The Norwegian Nobel Committee put it, 'Peace on earth depends on our ability to secure our living environment. Maathai stands at the front of the fight to promote ecologically viable social, economic and cultural development in Kenya and in Africa. She has taken a holistic approach to sustainable development that embraces democracy, human rights and women's rights in particular. She thinks globally and acts locally.' Professor Maathai served Africa and the world in various capacities. She was Congo Brazzaville's Ambassador and also served in the United Nation's Disarmament Committee.In death, individuals and organisations around the world have continued to pour encomium on her. The national geographic daily news referred to her as 'earth mother'. Achim Steiner, the Executive Director of UNEP described her as 'a force of nature.' Her country's President, Mwa Kibaki, pointed to her political attributes: 'In politics, the late Professor Maathai will be remembered for the role she played in agitating for political reforms that paved the way for the country's second liberation. In her quest to serve Kenyans in different spheres, the late Professor Maathai vied and became the Member of Parliament for Tetu and an Assistant Minister in the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources.' US president Obama also added his tribute to a woman who, he noted, led extra-ordinary life and 'devoted her life to peacefully protecting what she called 'our common home and future.' The work of the Greenbelt Movement stands as a testament to the power of grassroots organising, proof that one person's simple idea ' that a community should come together to plant trees ' can make a difference, first in one village, then in one nation, and now across Africa.'There are so many lessons humanity can learn from this great woman who demonstrated a remarkable strength of character; a leader par excellence, who consistently stood up against the state in pursuit of her belief ' love for trees, love for nature. She had shown by example that one can serve the community not by being a politician but as ordinary citizens. Maathai did not need to be first lady of some sort to pursue her pet project and touch the lives of Kenyans and the world. She achieved all of this as an ordinary citizen. For her self-less service, she was honoured with a Nobel Peace Prize. It is important to note that her achievement were realised within a predominantly patriarchal society. So large is the sense of her contribution to society that the Kenyan state which had humiliated her while alive decided to give her a state burial, first for a woman in that part of the world. The world can learn and honour this great woman by pursuing a green policy to put a canopy of trees over our denuded cities.
Click here to read full news..
